There was a strong relationship between action and reaction, cause and effect.
As the saying goes, the flap of a butterfly's wings caused a storm of tornadoes elsewhere.
Any change in his actions could create adverse reactions, an even more devastating future than what he had experienced.
Not long after Veronica left his mansion, Marcus went to his office and began writing down the sequence of events he had experienced in the future.
How it came to be, what triggered it. How its outcome propelled the cult's next move.
All of this, even after writing it down, only made one of his notions more glaring.
What was the Faceless cult's goal in Agard, and why is the Kingdom allowing it to happen?
One major thing was clear, even after sending them news of the cult's actions, before the arrival of the Ulha Academy students.
Even after they were shown evidence of the cult's activities, the Royal Council refused to send the appropriate help.
Those four Inspectors, to Marcus, were nothing but unnecessary sacrifices…
"What could they possibly gain from letting their subjects and a part of their territory fall into pandemonium?"
The answer to this eluded him to no end.
I have to figure this out in this redo if I want to be successful this time.
With that in mind, he pushed this problem to the side.
The next thing to tackle was the traitor.
For this, Marcus had already sent Joshua to secretly follow Eddy around.
He warned him strictly not to expose himself to anyone.
With his bloodline ability that gave unparalleled sight, following the young man from a great distance wouldn't be an issue.
Today was supposed to be the day when he allocated the majority of his workforce to building the learning center, however, at this time, he didn't think it was necessary to push this idea forward for now.
Or rather, it would be better if he selected a few talented commoners to study under him for a while and then gave them the job of disseminating knowledge to the rest.
The reason being that he needed to turn his focus into creating a stronghold.
Because his estate was the previous gathering spot for all those who came to battle the faceless cult in Agard, his estate faced a lot of attacks, and many lives were lost in the process.
Those who were in his mansion on contract were scared and terminated their contracts before leaving.
Even many commoners who saw hope in Agard were scared to the point where they ran.
The fight against this cult, in the long run, injured the little progress he had made.
The first attack on my estate is about 5 weeks away. We will take the initiative, and also build better defenses.
…
Marcus leaned back on his chair, staring at his status window.
Now that his title has granted him a stronger will, he was able to gauge himself properly.
His body has reached a saturated point. All the growth he gained in the previous life didn't disappear.
He had fought in so many battles that now he didn't need to chant to cast his spells.
Also, Mana had stopped growing his body.
If one were to compare Marcus's physicality against an Awakened Knight rank, they would find out that the young lord was more nimble and stronger.
Marcus recently thought that if he could increase his mana reserves, then his body would continue to grow stronger due to the energy's influence.
However, now that his reserves had grown, and were still growing, already way past 450 points, he realized that it wasn't so.
As a level 1 mage, his body wouldn't grow anymore.
In other words, he could finally upgrade his Arcane Knowledge to level 2.
This would cost him 100 achievement points, which was nothing to him at the moment.
Without any further thoughts on this matter, Marcus upgraded his Arcane Knowledge.
Just like when he had first learned Arcane Knowledge, his head throbbed.
Dense streams of knowledge flowed into his mind, pouring in waves after waves.
Not only that, the mana around the estate began moving towards his position like moths to flames.
An invisible hurricane of mana swirled above his mansions. To those who couldn't sense or see mana, they only felt the wind become stronger.
For those with Blood Force, their senses alluded to some form of danger.
This went on for more than fifteen minutes.
Mana poured into his body, and like a foam, his muscles and veins absorbed the mana. To the point where he felt full, unable to take in anymore.
However, his body didn't stop there, it continued to absorb more.
It absorbed, refined, expelled, and reabsorbed what it poured out.
It was a form of purification.
Marcus held his head in his arms, not letting go for the fear that his head could fall off due to the weight of the knowledge pouring in.
Knowledge that was more diverse than what he initially knew and understood.
Branches of magic that he was unaware of opened up to him.
After what felt like hours to him, the throbbing and weight in his head began to recede.
Marcus shivered, as he tried to move.
This damn thing is a double-edged sword.
Suddenly, he was grateful that he hadn't attempted to upgrade his Arcane Knowledge before now.
He was sure that he would have been greatly injured, or even worse, dead.
It took him a few seconds to get himself, and once he did, Marcus didn't have to test anything out to figure out how strong he had become.
For starters, his sight. Even though it was still daytime, everything looked clearer than he remembered them ever being.
He could hear further than he wished to, as even the heartbeats of the two knights guarding his office door could be heard.
Marcus blocked his ears with his hand to cut off the noise.
Deep within him, he felt like he could cast level 1 spells without chanting or hand signs.
Just a thought would suffice.
And those spells that used to drain him wouldn't be able to leave a dent on his reserves.
…
[Name: Marcus Sirdi.]
[Age: 24.]
[Level: 2 (Mage)]
[Race: Human.]
[Mana: 700.]
[Titles: Lord With A Will (Lv2)]
[Achievement Points: 1153]
[Arcane Knowledge Learned (Lv2). Advanced Technological Knowledge Learned (Lv2). Body Modification Knowledge Locked. Futuristic technological Knowledge Locked.]
[Redo: 3.]
[Days Left: 6 months (159 days)]
…
"I should find a place to test my strength later." Marcus felt thirsty as he said this.
He still had a lot of achievement points left. Though he had been saving them up for something else, Marcus's goals had changed.
Looking at the [Body Modification Knowledge Locked (0/1000)] tag, a drum of fear thumped in his heart.
Marcus was scared that he would experience some kind of excruciating pain again.
He was even a tad bit scared that his body would truly explode this time.
Putting his fears away, he immediately poured a thousand achievement points into it.